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Sunday, April 26, 2015

San Francisco Film Award Winners: April 2015

The San Francisco Film Awards are excited to present our April 2015 award
winners. We screened exceptional films from around the
world and our winners are celebrated in three levels of awards:
Best
of Show, Award of Excellence and Award of Merit. Judges score entries on
a performance scale and winning entries are recognized and awarded as
Awards of Excellence, Awards of Merit or no award.

Best of Show honors
are granted to the top scoring entry for each season. Awards of
Excellence are granted to entries with truly exceptional filmmaking.
Notable artistic and technical productions are recognized at the Award
of Merit award level.
No fixed number of awards are granted at any level but rather
fluctuate based on the total number of entries received for each
competition deadline.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Best in Show:

To Kill or Not to Kill (4:22) Alvaro Ron - USA

A truly dangerous comedy with a wicked plot twist. Linda Horowitz, a hopeless romantic screenwriter, is about to lose her
job unless she delivers a thriller script to her agent. She sits down
and starts writing. Shot in a Cinema Verite style during a rock ’n roll
concert and featuring one of the most famous Spanish comedic actors of
all times: Oscar Ladoire. The film is inspired by the
Nouvelle Vague and uses a well known theme by Erik Satie as it's score.

Short Film

Award of Excellence:

Change (7:02) Rajendra Vinod - India

Praveen's life is full of routine works. But, over the course of life,
his life has changed. He became aware of the duality between change and
routine ,Also he saw routine and change in nature and the world around
him. Finally, he came to know that one cannot exist without the other.
Then he started dissolving the duality between change and routine in his
life by just becoming the spectator of everything.

Honorable Mention:

Kin (12:30) Katie Lemon - USA

Two brothers confront their family's past and each other on the last day of owning their childhood home.

Documentary

Award of Excellence:

Gentle Giant (1:00:28) Gina Sealy - USA
Andre Rodgers played eleven seasons in MLB for the New York and San Francisco
Giants, the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rodgers was a
gentle giant and a quiet individual whose legacy has now spoken loudly.

Until the End Amir (40) Roy Zafrani - Israel

Amir had the perfect life: A lovely wife, a little boy, family and
friends. In one moment, everything changed forever. Amir was killed in a
terrorist attack in Bulgaria, while arriving on vacation with his wife,
Natalie.
Beyond the sad personal story, the film describes the devastating consequences of terror.

Science Fiction

Award of Excellence:

Star System (1:20:33) Tiziano Paltrinieri - Italy

Celebrity couple Adam Novi and Emma Ricci is expecting their first
child. One day Emma is abducted by two aliens, landed on Planet Earth to
find a cure to the plague threatening their race. But their attempt
fails when Emma is rescued by a Special Team of soldiers and scientists,
rushed to the area to hunt the aliens after intercepting their
spacecraft. Adam wants to take Emma away and see a doctor. But fearing
that Emma could have been infected, the Captain in charge of the mission
wouldn’t let them go. Even though Adam is against the plan of the
Captain, he has no choice but to follow a Rescue Team led by Sarah
Stefani who is plotting a secret revenge against the Captain.

Disability Issues

Award of Excellence:

Angel's Reach () Al Germani - USA
Angel's Reach by filmmaker Al Germani is a Documentary Short Film that
shares and celebrates 14 year old Julianne Martins' difficult,
demanding, yet inspirational journey integrating her love of dance, her
love of life and the challenge of cerebral palsy.

Student Filmmaker

Award of Excellence:

Spoilers The Movie (1:30:00) Connor Williams - USA

High School--the crossroads of American adolescence. Five teenagers
intersect during a day of court-appointed community service. The empty
summer halls of their high school are ground zero for conflict,
camaraderie, and collective soul searching. At an age when discovering
who you are can be difficult, and knowing who you aren’t can be
deceptive. The students: Jared was born to rebel, or was he raised to;
Sara walks the fine line between woman- and childhood; Aisha walks the
fine line between foolish and fearless; Peter finds out firsthand, words
and actions have consequences; and Tristan, the young one, has already
been branded a killer. These five lives collide, all before breakfast.

Award of Merit:

#RIP (14:18) Kevin Machate - USA
Lydia Walters was a beloved actress that died suddenly, leaving all of
her 'friends' potentially implicated in her death. All she wanted was to
trend on Twitter. Is that too much to ask?

New Filmmaker

Award of Excellence:

(Short Love) (9:56) Valentina Vincenzini - Italy

Giulia and Lorenzo are two Italians at their first date, drinking an
espresso in New York City. After a while Lorenzo becomes impatient and
spills the beans: he really likes Giulia but he is concerned about the
little time they have together since they are in a low budget
independent short film.